An Uncommon Community

Filipino families began farming in the Yakima Valley in 1918. These early immigrants from the Philippines to the United States faced formidable challenges. They were, by law, ineligible for citizenship. The Alien Land Act forbade them owning land and miscegenation laws restricted their right to marry.  The passage of the 1937 Amended Alien Land Act of Washington created  added hardship by portraying naturalized Filipinos as illegal aliens.  At one point, 18 Filipino farmers were arrested for violating the new law.

The Filipino community responded by bonding together to create the "Filipino Community of Yakima Valley." The first major act of the Filipino Community was a successful legal battle for the release of the 18 farmers. 

In the early 1940s, Chief Jobe Charlie of the Yakama Nation, in an uncommon act of compassion and strength, provided Filipino farmers an enormous opportunity.  He leased tribal land (which was beyond the jurisdiction of federal, state and county laws) to  Filipinos.  As word spread of an opportunity to settle out of the migrant stream, more Filipinos settled in the Yakima Valley, primarily on small truck farms near Wapato and Toppenish.

As an immigrant community, Filipinos understood the need for mutual aid. When they left the Philippines they brought with them traditional supports such as kinship networks, fraternal lodges and village associations.

The Yakima Valley Filipino familes, however, wanted more - they were, after all, a settled community that had been incorparated in 1939. Yakima Valley Filipino families viewed themselves as a permanent part of America. They had put down roots and intended to stay. 

As a community they committed to building a community hall. Individual members bought bonds and made loans for the project. Fund raising events were held. In 1952 the first Filipino Community Hall in the United States was completed in Wapato, Washington. It has become the physical and emotional center of the Filipino-American community in the Yakima Valley.

Pascua, Reynaldo. 60 Years of Preserving the Past to Enrich Our Future. Filipino-American Community of Yakima Valley, 2021. Published in celebration of the 60th anniversary of the Filipino Community Hall in Wapato, Washington.